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Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals

The vast majority of the Emmys for Technical / Engineering Achievement went to companies that in one way or another were involved in broadband video, with an unprecedented emphasis on technologies frequently associated with over the top (OTT) video.

Proximus is preparing to tie its fortunes more closely with the vendor, not only continuing to deliver video services based on Cisco products, but to explore expanding the relationship into smart/connected cities, service orchestration for business customers, SDN, and more.

Comcast has gotten the green light to offer its Wi-Fi service at 13 PATCO train stations in New Jersey and its hometown of Philadelphia starting this summer. The commuter rail line announced on Thursday that the operations and maintenance committee of its board of directors had endorsed Comcast’s proposal for Wi-Fi at the stations.

Yesterday Mexican broadcaster and media company Grupo Television announced it had wrapped up the sale of its 50 percent stake in wireless operator Iusacell back to joint-venture partner Grupo Salinas. The deal paved the way for AT&T to close on its acquisition to buy Iusacell for $2.5 billion, which was announced in November of last year.

AT&T announced it will trial LTE Broadcast at the College Football Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Monday. The carrier will use the technology to give customers with compatible devices access to additional feeds, alternate camera angles or bonus footage.

Technology forecasters are calling 2015 the year of the Internet of Things — that idea that everyday objects will use sensors and Internet connectivity to start thinking and acting for themselves. Here's a review of the connected and smart home devices that were on display at CES this week.

Days before Thanksgiving, Sony Pictures employees had logged onto computers that flashed a message from a hacker group calling itself Guardians of Peace. Soon personal information for tens of thousands of current and former workers was dumped online, including Social Security numbers and the purported salaries of top executives. More than six weeks later, the studio's network is still down as techs work to get it back online.

While the full fruition of the Internet of Things may be a several years away, smart home and connected devices are already having an impact on the Internet. Cloud-vendor Akamai Technologies released its third quarter 2014 State of the Internet report this morning, which said, in part, that the Internet of Things (IoT) was starting to change the Internet.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler appears poised to propose new rules that would classify Internet service providers as public utilities in a move designed to ensure everyone has the same access to free content online.Wheeler strongly indicated Wednesday that he favors the shift to tougher regulations, describing it as "just and reasonable" during an appearance in Las Vegas at CES.

Even as Netflix continues to pump out more original programming, its bosses say they will continue to keep secret details on how many people are actually watching. The ratings "arms race" on traditional television has a negative effect on creativity, said Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content executive.

Two companies involved in G.fast said they have conducted the first public demonstrations of the technology that promises to accelerate ordinary DSL networks up to rates fast enough to support the delivery of 4K ultra high definition (UHD) video, and possibly on even to a gigabit per second.

The company showed the LiveSphere application running on an Android set-top box reference design based on the STMicroelectronics Cannes chipset, which supports 4K video. The dynamic selection of the field of view relies on a remote by 4MOD Technology.

A collaboration between Broadcom and Comcast is providing a key building block to the Reference Design Kit for broadband devices. At CES, Broadcom announced that its DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 silicon now supports RDK-B, which will allow cable operators to speed up the deployment cycles for next-generation broadband gateway devices.